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Phil Mills
Date of Birth : 30/08/63
Place of Birth : Trefeglwys, Wales
Lives : Newtown, Wales
Marital Status :Lives with Helen and daughter Sioned
Role : Co-driver for Petter Solberg
Driver : Petter Solberg
Hobbies : Shooting, cycling
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HISTORY
First Rally : 1983
WRC Debut : 1994
Career highlights:
2004 - 2nd Drivers' World Rally Championship
2003 - World Rally Champion
2002 - 2nd Drivers' World Rally Championship
2002 - First WRC Win - Rally of Great Britain
2000 - Signed by Subaru World Rally Team
1998 - 6th overall - World Rally Championship
1997 - Winner - British Rally Championship
1993 - Winner - Welsh National Championship
1992 - Winner - Welsh National Championship
Phil Mills is no stranger to success at the highest level but it was his move to the Subaru World Rally Team in August 2000, to partner Petter Solberg, which established the Welshman's role in one of the most exciting driver partnerships in World Championship rallying. After many promising results their potential was realised on last season's Rally GB when a second consecutive victory secured Petter and Phil the Drivers' and Co-Drivers' World Championship titles for 2003.
Back to basics
Like most British co-drivers, Phil started competing at the most basic level of the sport when, in 1983, he began co-driving on British road rallies with members of his local motor club. He learned quickly and in 1984 clinched his first class title on the Welsh Road Rally Championship. For the rest of the 1980s, Phil was a regular co-driver at club level, using the time to build his experience on a variety of different stage conditions. In the period between 1988 and 1990 he somehow managed to squeeze in 88 rallies!
Going international
Phil's wealth of experience brought him his international break in the 1990 British Championship when he co-drove Graham Middleton in the Group N production car category and finished third overall on the Welsh Rally. Phil won the Welsh Championship in 1992 and 1993 with Brian Bell, and in 1993 joined Malcolm Wilson Motorsport to act as team co-ordinator on that year's Rally GB. Phil then carried out gravel note duties for Malcolm Wilson when he won the British Championship in 1994, partnered Sebastian Lindholm in the British Championship and scored his first international success alongside multiple Middle East champion Mohammed Bin Sulayem in the Rally of Jordan.
British Championship success
Phil further added to his reputation as a co-driver in 1996 when he joined Mark Higgins at Nissan, finishing second in the British Championship and taking fourth overall on the Rally GB. The duo went one better to win the British Championship in 1997 while the ever busy Phil continued to carry out his co-ordination duties for M-Sport on the World and Middle East Championships and also found time to co-drive for Ford driver Armin Schwarz on the Corsica Rally.
Petter & Phil - A partnership is formed
Phil competed in five further World Championship events with Higgins during 1998, gaining more vital WRC experience, which was put to good use when he joined Petter Solberg at Ford in 1999. Mills' wealth of expertise proved a vital boost to the promising but inexperienced Norwegian driver, and in their first two years together they achieved a string of excellent results that established Petter as one of the sport's most promising drivers for many years.
Subaru and WRC success
In August 2000, in one of the most significant transfer deals in recent seasons, the Mills/Solberg partnership announced that it was leaving Ford and joining Subaru. Phil's steady head has been crucial in calming his exuberant driver and the duo were richly rewarded with a perfectly controlled second place in Greece the following season. Throughout 2002, Petter and Phil finished on the podium five times, and ended the season with a sensational first WRC victory in Wales - Phil's home event.
The pair's winning momentum continued into the 2003 season when, in their most successful year of rally driving to date, they scored four outright rally victories, 48 stage wins and seven podium finishes. In a spectacular finale to the WRC series, the pair won the Wales Rally GB for a second consecutive time and secured the 2003 WRC Drivers' and Co-Drivers' titles.
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